Previously, pathogens like listeria and salmonella triggered most recalls for foods regulated by USDA, which inspects meat, egg and poultry products. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulates all other foods.
The number of USDA recalls for undeclared allergens increased from nine in 2006 to 58 in 2015. Almost 22 million pounds of food products have been recalled due to undeclared allergens since 2006. Meanwhile, foodborne pathogen recalls decreased in the past decade from a high of 34 recalls in 2007 for E. coli, listeria and salmonella combined to a low of 16 recalls for those pathogens in 2014.
The rise in undeclared allergen recalls is largely due to ingredients of USDA-inspected products being manufactured off-site by different suppliers, according to USDA Deputy Undersecretary for Food Safety Al Almanza. "Facilities used to blend products in-house, but that's simply not the case anymore," he said.
For example, ConAgra Foods Inc. recalled more than 84,000 pounds of frozen dinners in May 2016 after a sauce mix-up. A mislabeled shipment of Worcestershire sauce was mistakenly used in the dinners instead of the correct ingredient, Rochester sauce. The Worcestershire sauce contained anchovies, while the Rochester sauce did not. Because the label did not specify that fish was an ingredient, the dinners were recalled for containing an undeclared allergen.
"Sometimes these spice manufacturers aren't paying as close attention to these products," Almanza observed. "If the suppliers of these substances, these ingredients, aren't paying attention to what undeclared allergens are, the liability will fall on the company that we regulate."
Manufacturers must not only list the ingredients of a food, but to disclose any sub-ingredients of the main components, Almanza said. A frozen pasta dinner would list pasta as an ingredient on the label, but it would also have to list any ingredients in the pasta, such as eggs and flour.
The implementation of a "test-and-hold" policy helped reduce the number of recalls, particularly for listeria contamination, Almanza noted. Productions facilities hold products until tests come back negative for pathogens, after which the food is sent to retailers.